How to check a model agency in France
In France a licence is compulsory and published in the Official Journal. Here is how to check it.
France is the only one of the three countries in this directory where checking is both possible and public. Every model agency must hold a licence (Labour Code art. L. 7123-11), issued by the Prefect of Paris, and every order is published in the Official Journal.
In Belgium, no model agency appears in the regional artist-placement registers. In the Netherlands, the public tool returns no status. Here the information exists — you just have to know where to look.
What we did
We went through the complete Official Journal archive: 6.85 million files read, 629 notices kept concerning model agencies. Each names the agency, its address and often its licence number. Of the 108 agencies in this list, those that appear there carry it.
We do not publish the manager's name, although it appears in every notice: it is personal data, public in the Official Journal, but nothing requires republishing it here.
Three signals that do not lie
The licence. An agency operating without one is breaking the law. Ask for it: it is enforceable and its order is public.
You never pay to work. No book, no registration fee, no imposed photographer. The €15,200 financial guarantee exists to protect you, not the opposite.
A real address. Some agencies publish none, which is not in itself a signal. A fully virtual agency asking for money is.
108 agencies. Which one, and how?
A list does not help if you do not know where to start. Signed guides you and presents you.